Just Cause 2

Got this game for free through PSN around a year ago and just got around to playing it about 2 months ago. Beat it at 50% before hitting merc mode and I must say this game is one of those classic gems that many overlooked. In 5 or so years when people are asking for hidden gems of the last gen, this game is definitely on that list. I know it wasn't compledtely unknown but a very fun game that I'm sure didn't sell as it should have. Not perfect but was free and very fun!

Yeah, it's fun. Interested in seeing what Avalanche will do with Just Cause 3.

Thanks to Kwes for the signature!
"As long as there are dreamers who have the courage to pursue their dreams, the world will have heroes. And as long as there is a thirst to discover the unknown, there will be new stories to tell...and new adventures to be had."

I have said this a few times already, but Just Cause 2 is probably my favorite game of this generation. There is no other game in my library that I play off and on over the course of a few years. I bought this game on release day and I have completed about 70% of the game and 70% of the trophies. One of the most fun games I have ever played. I also love all the easter eggs scattered throughout the world.

I have said this a few times already, but Just Cause 2 is probably my favorite game of this generation. There is no other game in my library that I play off and on over the course of a few years. I bought this game on release day and I have completed about 70% of the game and 70% of the trophies. One of the most fun games I have ever played. I also love all the easter eggs scattered throughout the world.

Its fun for the first little while you play it but there's so many areas where its completely flawed. The game provides you with this huge sprawling map but then makes it as difficult to explore as possible other than by the grappling hook and parachute. Helicopters that take forever to get anywhere, jets that can't land anywhere except from where you stole them from in the first place (and even then it makes it difficult) and vehicles that have god awful driving physics and explode far too readily. You spend ages saving up for a cool vehicle only to destroy it almost instantly. The military bases are just cut and pasted one after the other, all almost identical. The voice acting and storyline is laughable and the map just goes on and on and on and on. Half of it might as well not be there. There's so little to discover in any of it. There's no attention to detail. All of it just takes up way to much time to be rewarded with very little.

Sorry, being quite harsh but the whole thing is just a lesson in how open world games need detail and need more than just endless explosions. They need you to make you feel you're part of them. One of the reasons I'm looking forward to GTAV so much is that you're going to get the huge environment playground that JC2 gives you but with GTA's attention to detail plus a lot more besides. Its seems somewhat ironic that San Andreas was clearly the inspiration for JC2 yet San Andreas is miles ahead of it on every level save for the graphics.

A few things JC2 did do well was that it rewarded you for picking up collectables. Something which GTAIV criminally didn't do. The explosions were also well done but then again that's all there was to the game.

I'd be up for JC3 but I've got a feeling that GTAV is going to set the bench so high for huge open world gaming that anybody else's attempts are just going to seem half baked in comparison.

I'd be up for JC3 but I've got a feeling that GTAV is going to set the bench so high for huge open world gaming that anybody else's attempts are just going to seem half baked in comparison.

I agree about some areas feeling repetitive and that there's hardly any attention to detail. I don't care about the story either (only completed two Agency missions) so thankfully the entire map was unlocked from the start.

It did seem like a pretty good deal for the amount I spent on it though (4 dollars) and supposedly the online multiplayer is a lot of fun.

Last edited by Vyse; 01-09-2013 at 00:35.

Thanks to Kwes for the signature!
"As long as there are dreamers who have the courage to pursue their dreams, the world will have heroes. And as long as there is a thirst to discover the unknown, there will be new stories to tell...and new adventures to be had."

Great replies, all. Glad I'm not the only one who knows it's flaws but enjoys the sheer destructive fun. Also, good reply from those that didn't like it. Well explained and valid. I think I finished at 50% (or so) with $3 million, most generals killed, etc. Half of the time I just decimated things, lol. Took 55 hours to "beat" before merc mode.

I didn't like the demo when it first came out, got it for free on plus and said "eh what the eff, lets play" so at first, the stupid parachute mission totally made me want to uninstall this game immediately. But i stuck through it and played, and overall i really like it now. Its a fun game with a huge map. It does have some issues though, like travel is a big concern and the car physics but overall its pretty fun. i love going to bases and jacking the jets.

I was searching the forum for discussion on JC2 and this is the only thread that really stood out. After getting this in early 2013, I decided to start playing it a few weeks ago. I always knew this game was going to be awesome and right up there as best of last-gen, that's true. After playing it and this being only the 3rd PS3 game I've played (2nd majorly beside GTA V), I was blown away by the action and mayhem. This game is awesome as Tiramisu. Its one of the best action games I've ever played, if not the best. I really love what they did here, it fills a missing gap that open-world games have had for so long. Its extremely rare to have this much fun sustained for a major duration or majority of the game's play. When I started flying jets and stuff, my jaw dropped even further. I don't have much to compare to so it was just GTA V and this for last-gen. I dig the day and night cycle, the weather and atmospherics, its all on point. Graphics are very nice, for a game like this its borderline mystifying. Audio for sounds of gunfire, vehicles, crashes, etc. are great and impactful. Sometimes Rico's comments make you laugh but its not that common. The way you interact with the environment and how destructible parts of it is, amazing. Along with epic scenes non-stop, some chases can be really intense where there is gunfire coming from many directions and traffic in the road getting plowed over in the process. I like doing this while someone is on the back with a turret. The funniest part during a chase is when one of those pesky government motorcyclists with a gun is right beside your speeding car and then a big object like a rock or something just smushes them in an instant. JC2 is like a whole bunch of games put together or took notes and was influenced by: Spiderman, GTA, Mercenaries, The Incredible Hulk (PS2), and Far Cry. Also, aspects of the game remind me of Dino Crisis 2 even. Lastly, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy is another game which has some bits JC2 incorporates.

I already know this is a 10/10 game, but some categories are certainly not 10s as the general gripe with this game is the general awkwardness. The camera can be ridiculous and very annoying, some button presses don't translate in the way you expect which in a tough spot during gameplay, sucks. The way the heat system was set up could have been tuned to not have full-on nuclear war on you for doing a little thing. Seems like Rockstar took a page from that book unfortunately. The enemies have way too good of aim when your in a car trying to get away. I'm playing on normal difficulty BTW. I find there aren't enough creative ways to destroy big tanks of oil and fuel. I do love though that AK-47s when powered up can do the job so that's fantastic. Here are the things I don't understand about the game or why the makers didn't craft it in such a manner: Why when I load a save I'm "home" and not where I was when I saved it? Very stupid. Health is too low when the bad guys come knocking but its enough for all fractions, strongholds, etc. Sometimes its not obvious what your suppose to use to complete your next objective on a mission like what method of transportation and where. When I want to pick up a weapon near a car, often Rico goes in the car instead of picking up said weapon (really annoying). Sub-machine gun far too slow to unlock in black market compared to other, less useful weapons. Enemies life in general a bit too high.

Originally Posted by mobias

Its fun for the first little while you play it but there's so many areas where its completely flawed. The game provides you with this huge sprawling map but then makes it as difficult to explore as possible other than by the grappling hook and parachute. Helicopters that take forever to get anywhere, jets that can't land anywhere except from where you stole them from in the first place (and even then it makes it difficult) and vehicles that have god awful driving physics and explode far too readily. You spend ages saving up for a cool vehicle only to destroy it almost instantly. The military bases are just cut and pasted one after the other, all almost identical. The voice acting and storyline is laughable and the map just goes on and on and on and on. Half of it might as well not be there. There's so little to discover in any of it. There's no attention to detail. All of it just takes up way to much time to be rewarded with very little.

Sorry, being quite harsh but the whole thing is just a lesson in how open world games need detail and need more than just endless explosions. They need you to make you feel you're part of them. One of the reasons I'm looking forward to GTAV so much is that you're going to get the huge environment playground that JC2 gives you but with GTA's attention to detail plus a lot more besides. Its seems somewhat ironic that San Andreas was clearly the inspiration for JC2 yet San Andreas is miles ahead of it on every level save for the graphics.

A few things JC2 did do well was that it rewarded you for picking up collectables. Something which GTAIV criminally didn't do. The explosions were also well done but then again that's all there was to the game.

I'd be up for JC3 but I've got a feeling that GTAV is going to set the bench so high for huge open world gaming that anybody else's attempts are just going to seem half baked in comparison.

I found this critique interesting as its now been 2 years and GTA V is now out and established. I agree there are a lot of little problems that can really piss you off but I found the same with GTA V. I read people didn't like the sprawling map because its difficult to get from place to place but I have no idea why as there is clearly a extraction option under the black market selection...its true that you can't select the exact coordinates to be sent to (which is dumb) but as long as some of the places have been discovered and factions done, the trip isn't always far. Other than by the grappling hook and parachute? No idea what your talking about. Helicopters should be faster, that's a given. The jets not being able to land was something I was scratching my head over, I checked the instruction book and nowhere was how to land a aircraft found so I guess the developers wanted you to always bail? I see how it might be pointless to save it because by the time your done another fraction or mission it likely will be gone but I think if your hopping around quick it would have been useful and a garage for storing like GTA's. The vehicles handling is TERRIBLE, everyone can agree with this...I have no idea what they were thinking there either. Motorcycles are insane, the camera titling with the turning?? WTF? Often when I think I'm about to miss something I hit it instead and vice-versa. Some cars are near impossible to control. I agree with vehicle's health being too low. The bolded is the same with GTA V, buying expensive cars and stuff isn't worth it much unless you really need it in a moment. In regards to the cut and paste, I notice that with a lot of different aspects of this game like strongholds, towns, and "downloading data from computers". When the strongholds at the start of the game all have pretty much the same layout and goals, and the only difference at all is the gang/group and the name of the place your invading...that was another WTF theme for me here for sure. I thought, "really?". No different at all and the progression of the stronghold is 100% incidental. That is pretty damn lazy. I guess they focused on the mechanics and size of the world over that. I actually don't really mind it that much but some variety would have been good. I don't notice this with the military bases like you stated however.

Something across the boarder with players of the game is the voice acting and storyline being the worst. I know its not good, but for some reason it doesn't bother me...at all. I just think of it as a slapstick, laid-back story that is about making the island go into full-anarchy. Its been entertaining so far despite the quality. The map going "on and on" is a positive. That part makes no sense (Half of it might as well not be there??). I feel that way about all kinds of open sandbox worlds but it needs to be present to give scope. If the game had more detail it wouldn't be what it is and other parts I'm sure would suffer, like the fun *cough GTA V cough*. Its doable to have the best of both worlds, but the game wouldn't have been released for another 6 years. I couldn't imagine building a game world like this, let alone increasing the detail of it with last-gen's hardware. More variety yes, another level of detail would be crazy. The fun is the reward of roaming while doing funny acts.

For the next bolded part, now that GTA V is something we can play, what do you think of it compared to JC2? If your ever going to read this assuming you still visit this board, did GTA V's fun factor meet your expectations or were you underwhelmed and felt it clamped down on "fun" when things got hairy and punished you for it? For example, dying every 10 seconds in GTA V while in JC2 that is far less often (well, when the cops or whatever they are chase you down for making trouble, you get mowed down quick which sucks unless you got skills). There is far more detail in GTA V but after a while it becomes meaningless for how much fun I'm having while playing. This is why I don't care about it in this context. All the extra stuff is what I thought be make GTA V the "last game" and the one to over-shine everything until the next one but something happened...the fun was constrained during certain parts. No vigilante? No major destructible environments? Missed opportunity 101. The destructible environments in JC2 are a dream come true while in GTA V there isn't enough to create the feeling your actually razing areas down to ruble. I don't know about San Andreas being the inspiration for JC2 but SA being miles ahead of it on every level? Back away from the crack pipe...

There is more to the game than explosions. There were many insane moments where there wasn't any of that. No mention of the extremely well implemented grappling hook which totally sends this game into a new category. Finally, the last sentence is what I thought too but after a week or so it was apparent the explosive action while somewhat there (not often and cumbersome), is not on the same level here. There are also map concepts that were better in JC2 than GTA V because that huge mountain range in the center of V's map was dumb. Having a road go all the way around it with towns sprinkled didn't work for me. Its not bad, just not excellent. The graphics are way better in V though, that's not debatable. Physics more fine tuned but that major dose of realism might hurt gameplay like running speed and speed to enter other vehicles.

Originally Posted by daLa

Bought it cause of the low price, nothing amazing but it's a bit fun.

Nothing amazing? What game has action like this and is in an open world? Its like a huge football fan saying the last 2 minutes of Super Bowl XLIX (49) were nothing special.

Originally Posted by Zswordsman

I didn't like the demo when it first came out, got it for free on plus and said "eh what the eff, lets play" so at first, the stupid parachute mission totally made me want to uninstall this game immediately. But i stuck through it and played, and overall i really like it now. Its a fun game with a huge map. It does have some issues though, like travel is a big concern and the car physics but overall its pretty fun. i love going to bases and jacking the jets.

What was the stupid parachute mission, anyone? I'm 14% done and I haven't seen it that I know of. I hate "The red or blue one" faction the most, what a horrible task!

Final Fantasy IX is without question not only the best video game ever made, but the best entertainment created by mankind.

I think the one where you took on the towers? Its been a long time since I played this game.
Or maybe its the opening sequence when you first arrive?

There are multiple objectives that involve towers or high buildings/structures. It could be the opening, but I wouldn't call that a parachute mission because there isn't a specific need to use it...and that is true for almost any mission so I don't know which one is being referred to there.

Final Fantasy IX is without question not only the best video game ever made, but the best entertainment created by mankind.

I just beat Just Cause 2, the first game beaten for the PS3 overall because I still haven't done the last mission of GTA V yet. It was easy. Ending was a joke as expected. The hardest mission was "The Red one or the Blue one?" by a massive margin, 500X harder than all the rest and took 13-15 tries. When I looked up that faction mission on YouTube, the thing was far easier than what I had. Everything about it was stupid from the heat level going to 4 and trying to propel yourself up tall buildings with limited time and frequent misses at the top where you fall back down. It was a fluke that I beat it, there was a up-close parachute glitch-out where Rico spun around with sprites showing up close where I had no idea what was going on and thought he was falling from the building but it turned out I got put in a favorable spot for no reason, thus completing it. The final mission was easy compared to that. I'm at 39.10% right now in Merc mode.

I can't get over some of these small, bothersome details with this game. The glitches that occur are one thing, like background music loudness/track changes when you pause and un-pause at times, when you press start to go back to your game sometimes it goes right back to the menu (double), or even the map screen. I've had the game completely freeze twice now, first PS3 game I've played to do that. I'm noticing some sluggish moments when there is a lot of action going on, and occasionally its not just reduced frame-rate, the game will literally halt for about 0.4 seconds! WRT the operations of the heat and weapons, etc. why does all hell break loose when you do one thing? Missions were easy, but when the heat level is turned on its barely possible to have fun that is not related to that chaos. Once you get to Heat 5, its pretty much game over. Why oh why did the game makers not use Armor collects properly to increase your heath!!!!! Seriously, this pisses me off so much because its so obvious and when it "upgrades" the armor, you literally don't see any difference to your health bar!!! Its been 5 years since the game came out, where are the patches for that on console? Make the health bar wrap all the way around the circle mini-map like Kingdom Hearts 1. It would be perfect to raid military bases without looking for a health pack every 10 seconds. Once in Merc mode, they should have given a big reward for each additional 10% completed because there isn't much of a reason to continue. Its like any other game, reward the player to keep interest and accelerate the flow. No base to get all the greatest weapons and vehicles for free, no secure way to keep money coming in for infinite supply if you happen to beat everything. The rewards should have been, no heat toggle on/off, increased range for grapple hook, can swing upwards onto something when hanging like in the chopper hijacking sequence, know what direction incoming fire is, flamethrower (why the F is this not in JC2?? Same with GTA V, what is wrong with these minds?), Better weapons for rebel groups (and on vehicles), recruit rebel teams to do certain things like storm bases and go nuts with Rico, etc.

The PC version needs mods for all of these that don't exist already (like extended grapple range).

Final Fantasy IX is without question not only the best video game ever made, but the best entertainment created by mankind.

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